1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to adjustable carrying straps for use as shoulder straps for carrying luggage, camera bags and the like; especially to devices incorperated in the strap to distribute, cushion, or otherwise make more comfortable the load on the shoulder and back of the person carrying the item.
2. Prior Art
Carrying straps for use by individuals to transport moderately heavy loads such as luggage, garment bags, sample cases, golf clubs, tool kits, camera equipment, surf boards, and other such items have often incorporated or had attached to them devices intended to alleviate the painfull tendency of these straps to dig into the shoulde and neck. Some commercial luggage straps have nothing more than a small piece of felt sewn onto the strap; some actually make matters worse by attaching a stiff rubber pad with hard edges. However, the soft device used by Silver (U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,044) is more typical of the many wrap around, slip on, tie on, or otherwise attach on strap pads thought up over the years. The earliest such patented attachment I found was U.S. Pat. No. 414,916 approved in 1889. There have been many others submitted and approved over the years; the problem of painfull shoulder straps seems to endure.
More elaborate and recently patented schemes for alleviating the shoulder strap problem are typified by:
______________________________________ the shock absorber Coontz 4,976,388 the wide, long pad Dickinson 4,401,246 the extensive internal pad Johnson 4,550,869 ______________________________________
While these designs demonstrate the diversity of approaches that can be taken to the problem, and do address it by softening and distributing the load, none of them is of particularly simple manufacture nor provides a definitive solution. The problem of designing an effective, easy to use, convenient to store, luggage carrying type shoulder strap is still one that is open to new ideas.